Further Evidence for Unusual Geomagnetic Field Behavior Around the Precambrian-Cambrian Boundary from new Siberian paleomagnetic and magnetostratigraphic data

Abstract:

Since paleomagnetic studies have focused on Late Precambrian-Early Paleozoic geodynamics of the Siberian platform, apparently irreconcilable paleomagnetic poles have been obtained. We will first report on recent paleomagnetic results dated to the Late Ediacaran-Nemakit Daldynian (latemost Precambrian-Lowermost Cambrian) and Tommotian-Atdabanian (Lower Cambrian) periods obtained from the southwestern and southeastern margins of the Siberian platform. Whereas the poles of the older time interval lie close to Madagascar, Tommotian-Atdabanian poles are lying to the south of Australia, as other Cambrian poles previously obtained by Khramov and co-authors. Such a large angular difference in pole position could be explained either by True Polar Wander or by the occurrence of abnormal geomagnetic field behavior around the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary. Furthermore, a 60-m thick sequence of red siltstones and sandstones of the Ediacaran Lopata Formation, that crops out along the Teya river in the Yenisey Ridge region (Western margin of the Siberian platform), was sampled for magnetostratigraphy. Rock magnetic analyses and thermal demagnetization reveal a magnetization dominantly carried by hematite, with the coexistence of antiparallel components of magnetization in some samples. The magnetization isolated over the highest unblocking temperatures is regarded as the characteristic component. It defines numerous magnetic polarity intervals with antipodal directions. According to reasonable sedimentation rates expected for the lithology of the Lopata Formation, this high number of magnetozones most probably indicates the occurrence of an extremely high magnetic reversal frequency during at least a part of the Ediacaran. This result confirms other magnetostratigraphic data previously obtained in North-Western Russia and Urals. Altogether, the paleomagnetic and magnetostratigraphic results provide evidence supporting the unusual geomagnetic field behavior around the Precambrian-Cambrian boundary.